I reviewed my taxes and it seems the self employment taxes are what really drive my taxes up. Is that the case for everyone else?
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Your observation is correct. Think about it - when you have a loss in your business, you reduce only your income taxes, not your FICA taxes. If you have a loss carryover, back or forward, the loss offsets only income taxes, not FICA taxes (as it properly should). That's ~15% hit (~3% above the SS limit) is significant.
Tax planning is very critical with respect to minimizing FICA/Medicare taxes. The "sweet spot" is to depreciate purchases and make other choices to reduces your net profits to somewhere between $0 and $400. In this space, you are exempt from FICA. Of course, with a highly profitable business, that is difficult unless you have a large equipment purchase, in which case you can elect the right amount of section 179 depreciation to get you into that range.
With an s-corp, you have more control (at least for now).
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